Stephen A. Smith Defends Nico Harrison Amid Criticism Following Luka Doncic's Performance Against Timberwolves

The Los Angeles Lakers had a quite an embarrassing exit from the first handed by the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite the combined efforts of both superstars LeBron James and Luka Doncic, the Lakers failed to clinch the series in five. This has raised several concerns about the Lakers' roster depth, especially with Doncic not suiting up to his defensive responsibilities as a player.

Through the series, Luka's performance for the Lakers was rather underwhelming than his playoff form last season. For the longest time, everyone assumed the Slovenian to carry the Lakers through to a deep playoff run after he led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals last year. However, things seem different at LA for Doncic.

Indeed, if a team trades one of their franchise players right after an NBA Finals appearance, the GM of that team should be up for scrutiny. But, does Nico Harrison really deserve all the heat and vitriol for trading Luka Doncic to the Lakers? NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith does not think so. Let's find out what he had to say about this.

Stephen A Smith: Nico Harrison Does Not Deserve The Heat For Trading Luka Doncic

The Los Angeles Lakers were seemingly one of the favorites to aim for a deep playoff run from the West. With Luka Doncic and LeBron James leading the starting five, everyone expected the Lakers to win, atleast by five games. However, nobody realized some of the underlying issues with the roster's depth, which caused the team yet another first round playoff exit.

Stephen A. Smith believes it's high time to take the heat off Nico Harrison after the Luka Doncic trade. Though he doesn't deny Doncic to be one of the best generational talents, Smith seemed unimpressed after Luka's playoff run with the Lakers.

“You talk about somebody that doesn't look too bad today, it's Nico Harrison. Cause, when you look at Luka Doncic and you look at the way everybody, from Julius Randle, to Mike Conley, to Ant-Man [Anthony Edwards], to Jaden McDaniels, when you see the way everybody was blowing right by him. He is a defensive liability,” Smith remarked.

Previously on First Take as well, Stephen A Smith had highlighted how Luka Doncic had always been a defensive liability for his teams. In the series against Minnesota, even while on offense, Luka was successfully locked down by Minnesota defenders which made him lose out his momentum almost every time by the fourth quarter.

SAS thinks JJ Redick has lost faith in his bench due to issues with their conditioning. Furthermore, he only played his starters throughout the second half, which was detrimental for players like Doncic, who are still trying to find their footing with the team.

All in all, it is now for the Lakers to find the best roster depth to suit their championship contention dreams. For the while now, the main trouble for the franchise has been the filling the role of a center, which Jaxson Hayes doesn't quite fit well. Perhaps next season, we might see some major revamps for Lakeshow's roster.